The name of the album was suggested to White by Lillie Mae Rische after a gesture made by the former.

It was very funny, because Lillie Mae came to overdub a fiddle on this country song and I had to reach across her to press record and I said “pardon my boardinghouse reach”. She said “what’s that?” and I said what I thought it means. She said “that’s a good name, you should name your album that”, so I did.
-Jack White, What Is This? With Ben Blackwell, 2018

This album is a new step for White, seeing him abandon some of his methods and make music with as many tools at his disposable as necessary.

Boarding House Reach is the culmination of, like, ‘I don’t care.’ I want it to sound like this. I don’t care how it was made.
-Jack White, Rolling Stone, 2018

Boarding House Reachdebuted at #1 on Billboard’s 200 chart the week ending April 7, 2018.